The Other Left Fielder
What happens if Jake Meyers struggles?
In their way, the Astros have shared their current plan for left field, which appears to be the only position in question as the season approaches.
“Chas is an everyday MLB player and will be treated as such” and “Jake Meyers will have an opportunity to win the job in center field” is very clear.
Chas will get the vast majority of starts in left, with Yordan as DH and Meyers in center to open the season, or at least the spring.
At one time there was hope Yordan would be more of a presence in the field, but with 56 starts there in 2022 and 40 last season the dye has been cast. He’s a DH and occasional left fielder.
I’m OK with that, as his bat is too valuable and his body too fragile to attempt to force him into anything other than an every-third or fourth-day fielder.
Heck, I could be OK with less than that if things work out.
This construct - Chas in left, Jake in center and Tucker in right - seems like the best scenario, at least on paper, as it’s solid defensively, gets Chas in the lineup and takes advantage of Meyers’s strength, which is centerfield defense.
But what if Meyers struggles at the plate? We are talking about a .235 career hitter, who’s hit .227 in each of the last two seasons and finished 2023 with an xBA of .214, which resides in the 6th percentile in MLB.
Add to that some other ugly expected numbers and the possibility of Meyers struggling at the plate becomes more likely than not, depending on your definition of struggling.
The Astros have options, some more palatable than others.
Dubon could move to center with little disruption to other positions.
The fifth outfielder (if you count Yordan as an OF), be it Corey Julks or someone else, could play left, shifting Chas to center.
The Astros could sign a free agent to play left.
Yordan could play more left, moving Chas to center, but that leaves the DH spot open and Yordan open to injuries/fatigue.
My thoughts on those options:
This seems to be the least obtrusive and Dubon is a decent centerfielder, starting 24 games there last season (why does it seem like more?). Short-term, OK. Longer term this would hurt infield depth as the biggest part of Dubon’s value is his versatility.
Just last season Dubon started games at 2nd base (66), centerfield (24), left field (6), shortstop (9), and first base (2) and also saw a spit of time in right (4 innings) and 3rd (2 innings).
Dubon is a valuable utility man but would be miscast as an everyday starter for any length of time on a team with championship aspirations in my opinion.
This would also severely impact infield depth and you’d have to rely on a David Hensley, Grae Kessinger type, which is a downgrade.
On the flip side, a huge chunk of Dubon’s starts were due to Altuve’s broken hand and hopefully, a similar scenario will not present itself this spring, making him more available.
Julks was OK defensively and hit for the first part of the season, finishing June at .265 before cratering in the second half and being optioned. Will he get another shot?
There are free-agent left fielders available.
Least attractive to me given Yordan’s various aches, pains and injuries. 40-50 games in the field is likely his cap. Anything above that and the injury risk rises exponentially and isn’t worth losing his bat over.
As I sit here today, Julks would appear to be the most likely option, or at least the first option, depending on what happens in the spring.
One of the interesting things about the managerial change is to see how the roles and thinking on players shift.
Chas has gone from “not a big boy” to “everyday Major Leaguer” without playing an inning.
Julks got plenty of run, many would say too much, under Baker’s management, so it’ll be intriguing to see if he’s given a second shot under Espada.
Similarly, how Dubon is deployed will be fascinating.
As far as signing a free agent, I would be surprised if that happened. The Astros surprised everyone, myself included, by paying for Hader, but this would be paying someone to sit and wait for Jake to fail, adding to the pressure, when you ostensibly have such a player available (Julks OPS+ was 101 in March/April, 64 in May and 111 in June before nosediving to 44 in July and 41 in August).
Of course, there’s always the chance of someone unexpectedly making the team out of the spring, something that has happened a couple of times recently.
In 2021 it was Chas, in 2023 it was Julks, when Michael Brantley was IL-bound.
Kennedy Corona is the only other 40-man roster outfielder invited to spring training, but he’s never played above Double-A and has 85 minor league starts in left field.
Non-roster invitees listed as outfielders include Quincy Hamilton, Pedro Leon, Joey Loperfido and Jacob Melton.
For the reasons mentioned above, I believe the best outcome for the Astros would be for Myers to be serviceable offensively, but 605 at-bats into his career that hasn’t panned out and the Astros would be wise to have a plan “B” and “C” in place, which I’m sure they already do.
Thanks for reading!
Yordan and Chas should split time in left and DH until Jake proves he cannot hit...say by May 15th. Y is a capable LFer. Then Chas to CF. Plug in best of the rest in the Y platoon at that point. Y needs to be careful on base paths sliding. He is a good athlete. Playing LF Is NOT dangerous. Julks, Leon should get first shot if they have good start to season. Loperfido or the guy they traded for today up next if off to good starts... Dirden and others will need big time starts to move up.